Submersion
by liz4eva89
Summary: When Fitz shows up at Clares in the pouring rain, what does he want? What will happen?  *based on the new 2011 promo* ... *possible Flare*
1. Chapter 1

Clare lounged on the couch, phone against her ear as she chatted with Eli. The muted TV was casting an almost eerie light as it flickered on the walls of the darkened room.

Clare flinched as an extra loud thunderclap boomed overhead. She didn't mind thunderstorms but that didn't mean she was a fan.

"You okay, Clare-bear?" Eli said, after a minute of silence as Clare took in the storm.

"Yeah, fine," she breathed.

Eli laughed, "You're not scared are you?" Clare could practically see the smirk on his joking face.

"No, of course not," she replied, but not sure if it was entirely true. Being alone in a thunderstorm wasn't fun, but her mom was at some church fundraiser and her dad was AWOL.

Suddenly Clare heard soft knocking at her door, "Hold on a sec," Clare said to Eli, standing up and slowly walking towards the front door.

"I'll be here," he said as she reached for the knob and flung the door open.

"Fitz!" she quietly gasped and nearly dropped the phone, staring wide-eyed at the boy on her front stoop.

Fitz, whom was soaked to the bone, stared dead-eyed at her. She gulped, and her mouth opened slightly, but she couldn't form words.

"Clare? Clare, what's happening?" Elis muffled, frantic voice came out of the receiver. Slowly, Clare's finger brushed over the END button and she didn't know what brought her to the decision but she pressed it, causing the line to go dead.


	2. Chapter 2

"Fitz," she whispered again, still not believing that he was there.

"May I come in," he coughed awkwardly.

She nodded, and her breath caught as he passed her.

"Why are you here," she spat out, and he spun around with a grimace.

"I don't know."

She looked at him questioningly.

"You know what, never mind, I shouldn't have come here," he said, and made a break towards the front door.

But Clare grabbed his wrist, "Wait! Don't go."

"Look, you wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Fitz sighed and sat down on her couch, ignoring the fact that he was soaking wet and now probably ruining the piece of furniture. Clare took a seat next to him.

"Are you afraid of me?" he said, staring into her eyes.

"No," Clare said. But the truth was, she was terrified. So, so terrified.

"You're lying," Fitz said, roughing grabbing her wrist. "You're lying!" he said again, louder this time.

Clare whimpered as his grip tightened.

"Oh," he looked down solemnly, as if noticing for the first time that he had actually grabbed her, and released her wrist, shoving his hand deep into his pocket. "Sorry," he muttered.

"It's fine," she said softly.

"My mum had been at class—she wants to become a nurse so she's been taking night classes—so she didn't have time to make dinner," Fitz said suddenly, and Clare turned to listen.

"So when my dad came home, he was expecting dinner to be ready and on the table. But it wasn't. This made him angry. He hit her, hard. And I was _right there_. I got up and stood between them, trying to protect her. "Not her," I had said, "Anyone but her." And he listened, he left her alone, but then he turned on me. My mum had screamed and screamed for him to stop beating me, but he didn't." Fitz turned towards Clare, "I'm so scared, Clare. I'm so scared for my mum. But I had to go, I just had to."

Clare comfortingly reached out to take his hand, and he instinctively pulled back, but once he looked into her eyes, he took it.

"Why did you come to me?" she asked.

"I had no one else to go to. And I figured you would be the most understanding."

"Do you have a place to stay? I assume you won't be going back to your house anytime soon…"

He shook his head, making Clare's heart break.

"You can stay here if you'd like. There's a guest bedroom upstairs."

"Thanks."

"Don't worry about it." She glanced at him and smiled at his wetness, "Let's get you some dry clothes. My dad might have some things your size."

Suddenly Clare's phone vibrated on the end table. The two looked up, but neither moved. Clare reached out and grabbed it. Looking at the caller ID, she sighed. Eli.

"Who is it?" Fitz asked. She gave him a look and he nodded knowingly.

"Oh, I see."

But surprisingly, Clare pressed INGNORE.

"Why did you do that?" he asked. From what he knew, she and her little Goth boyfriend Eli told each other everything.

"It's none of his business," she shrugged. "Let's go upstairs."

Fitz smirked as he stood up to follow her. Many girls had said those words to him before, but they had meant something entirely different. If someone had told him a few weeks ago that Clare Edwards would say that to _him_ of all people, ignoring the meaning of course, he would have laughed in their face.

"Here's your room," she motioned to a door at the end of the hallway. "There's a bathroom in there, if you want to shower. When you're done with those," she looked at the wet clothes that had stuck awkwardly to his skin. "I'll wash them and throw them in the dryer. I'll bring in some dry clothes soon, so if I knock, please cover up." She smiled.

"Thanks again. Really, I mean it." Fitz said, as he walked into the room.

"Again, don't mention it." Clare said.

As she walked away, Fitz gave her a glance over his shoulder and smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

Once in the room, he peeled off his clothes and set them in a neat pile on the bed in case Clare came in wanting to wash them. Fitz shuffled into the bathroom, stepped into the shower, and flinched as cold water attacked him, but soon the water turned hot and he leaned against the cool tiled wall with his head in his hands. The water stung where he had been beaten, and he was pretty sure they would turn into some nasty bruises in the morning. And to think Clare would be so nice as to let him stay in her house. He assumed Clare would be nice about it, since she's almost always nice, and listen to what he had to say, comfort him a bit— something he definitely needed— and send him on his way. But to extend the offer as much as she had was, well, amazing.

Fitz stepped out of the shower, and hastily dried off with a towel before wrapping it around his waist and stepping back into the bedroom.

He took in the room for the first time: there was a double bed with a navy comforter which also had black sheets and pillows, white shades showed under white curtains that had a navy line at the bottom, there was a tall mahogany dresser with many drawers, and there were two end tables on both sides of the bed which held two white lamps.

_Small and simple, but oddly cozy,_ Fitz thought.

Suddenly the door burst open, and Clare came bounding in with a large pile of clothes in her arms.

"Hey, how are-," she said, but once she saw him her eyes went wide. "Oh! I'm sorry! I thought you heard me knock!"

"Don't worry about it," he smirked.

"Ok, um, here are some clean clothes," she said as she laid them on the bed.

Fitz sifted though them. His clothes were there along with some t-shirts, plaid button-downs, boxers, jeans and sweatpants. He fingered some tan khakis, assuming that he would have to wear these as part of his uniform back to Degrassi. He still couldn't believe they were going to let him go back to that place, not that he wanted to any way.

Clare noticed and said, "You don't have a uniform shirt do you? I could probably get some from Eli. You're a junior right?"

Fitz nodded and Clare looked away, blushing, trying to keep herself from staring his defined, muscular chest.

"Oh, look at the time," she laughed awkwardly. "I better to bed. Goodnight!" Clare said and rushed out of the room.

Fitz glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall and smirked. It was only 8:30.

…

Clare sat on her bed with her knees pulled up against her chest as she stared down at her phone. It was vibrating...again. Eli was calling her…again.

She reached for the phone, considering answering it, but then pulled away quickly.

Eli would surely have a conniption if she told him that Fitz was there…staying at her house…sleeping in a room almost next to hers…while neither her mom nor dad were home.

Eli wouldn't understand Fitz's situation. She was glad she was helping him though. Clearly, if the situation had been reversed, she knew that Fitz would definitely not have done the same. But that didn't matter. Not to her. All that mattered was that she was doing the right thing.

Eli wouldn't see it that way.

She could answer the phone and just not tell him about Fitz. That wasn't exactly lying was it? But Eli would tell something was wrong, he knew her too well. So she wasn't going to answer the phone. Not for Eli. Fitz was her dirty little secret.


	4. Chapter 4

Fitz awoke in the morning to the sound of yelling. He rolled out of bed, pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, and slowly walked down the stairs.

"What are these?" Clare's mom yelled, picking up a pair of Timberland work boots. "These certainly weren't here when I left."

He took a step.

"A friend's," Clare said. "They happened to stay over."

"Is this friend of yours a _boy_?"

He took a step.

"So what if he is! He didn't even go _near_ my room!"

"That's not the point."

And then he couldn't step anymore. Fitz was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching as the two screamed at each other.

"Ahem," he coughed, and they both turned towards him.

"I could go…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "If it's too much trouble for me to be here…"

"No, you don't need to go," Clare said, and her mom shot her a pointed look, which she ignored.

"I'm going upstairs." Clare's mom said sternly. "I need to…think."

At that, she left, leaving Clare and Fitz alone.

"Sorry about that," Clare smiled, acting as if nothing had happened.

"It's fine."

"You must be hungry, want breakfast?"

"Sure," he said, following her into the kitchen where he was handed a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. He thanked her with a grateful look as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"I'll be right back," Clare said on her way up the stairs. "I need to make my bed."

Fitz then felt guilty for not making his. She seemed to pick up on this, "Ill make yours too."

"Thanks," he smiled.

As he was shoveling his breakfast into his mouth, someone knocked on the door. He waited a few minutes, looking around and expecting Clare or her mom to get it. But when no one did, he placed the last bite of food in his mouth, went over to the door, opened it, and nearly choked to death when he saw who it was.

"What the hell?" Eli said, confused. Panic shot though Fitz and he slammed the door shut in Eli's face. He knew something like this would happen, but assumed he would be long gone by then so he had no idea how to handle it.

"Hey!" shouted Eli as he pounded on the door.

Fitz peered out the curtain and saw Eli make his way back to his car and yell something at his friend Adam, whom was hanging out the passenger seat window with a confused expression on his face.

They both abruptly turned towards the house—towards him— and Fitz closed the curtain quickly, knowing he had been seen. Shit.

He started pacing around the living room as he saw the two figures come towards the door, and start knocking again.

"This must be a joke," he heard Eli mutter.

"I don't know, maybe you should just call her." His friend said.

"What are you doing?"

Fitz spun around to see Clare watching him.

He motioned to the door just as Eli pounded again, "Clare! What's going on?"

"Oh…" she frowned. "Did they see you?"

"I think so. How 'bout I go hide and you pretend nothing happened."

"Couldn't hurt right?"

So Fitz ran into the first floor bathroom and locked the door while Clare took a deep breath, ran a hand though her hair, and opened the door with a cheery, fake smile plastered on her face.

Under normal circumstance, she would have been happy to see her friends, but until the Fitz thing was sorted out, it was definitely not a good idea.

"Hey guys," she said casually and Eli narrowed his eyes.

"Hi Clare…" he said, and brushed past her and into the house. Adam followed close behind, scoping out the room like a detective.

"What's up?" Adam asked, but it sounded more like an accusation.

"Not much, you?"

"Not much as in you are harboring an escaped convict in your house?" he yelled and Eli gave him a look.

"What are you talking about?" she laughed.

"So Fitz isn't here?" Eli asked slowly.

"What? That's crazy! Of course he wouldn't be here! What would make you think that?"

"I don't know, Eli said some crazy thing about him being here," Adam shrugged. "Mind if I use your bathroom?" he said heading towards the door and Clare froze.

"Um… that one's, uh, clogged. You should use the upstairs one." She lied.

"Clare, what's in the bathroom…?" Eli reached for the knob, and turned it, but became frustrated when he found it locked.

"Clare…"

"What! No ones in there!"

"I never said any thing about there being a person in there."

She gulped as Eli stared her straight in the eyes, emerald clashing with sapphire.

_Click_

They all spun to face the bathroom as the door flew open.

…

Fitz could hear everything that was going on. Clare was actually doing well not to blow their cover, but everything went downhill when Adam said he had to use the frickin bathroom.

Fitz stood up to press his ear to the door in order hear even better, but his socks—his stupid socks—caused him to slip. He started falling, and his hands shot out in front of him, hitting the knob on the door, causing the lock to click. Fortunately, Fitz found his balance so he didn't fall over, but unfortunately the door had flung open and he was left standing there while everyone's eyes were on him.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment Eli laid eyes on Fitz, chaos ensued.

Eli was on him in the blink of an eye, grabbing his shirt and nearly throwing him against the wall, meanwhile screaming incoherent words in his face.

Adam flailed around, trying to pry his friend off of Fitz while Clare looked distraught. She hated violence. Eventually Adam managed to pull Eli away, but then he turned on Clare.

"What the hell Clare! Why is _he_ here!" Eli yelled.

"He needed help," she said quietly.

"Help? _Help_! For what! Beating me up!"

"This isn't about you," Clare hissed, defensive.

"Then what the hell is it about! Please, enlighten me."

Clare glanced nervously at Fitz. It wasn't her place to tell Eli about Fitz's home life. On one hand, Eli would probably explode if she didn't explain why his 'nemesis' was there. And it would probably get worse once he realized Fitz was sleeping at her house. But on the other hand she doubted Fitz wanted people to know about his situation.

"I can't tell you." She said.

Eli narrowed his eyes, "_What_?"

Fitz stiffened when he noticed Eli's fists were clenched. And he was angry. Anger made people do stupid things. He took a few steps towards the couple.

"Eli…" he said, warning in his tone. "Leave her alone."

"What makes you think you can tell me what I can and can't do?"

"I don't. Just, please, leave her alone."

Clare wanted so badly to go reassure Fitz that she was going to be fine, since she had an idea of what was going on behind those darkened eyes.

"You seriously think I'm going to hurt her?" Eli smirked. And then Clare saw the wheels turning in his head and knew it had clicked. "Wait, is that was this," he motioned towards Fitz being there. "…is about?"

"Yes Eli, I have an abusive father. Is that what you want to hear?" Fitz said, monotone. He might as well have said it before someone else had.

Eli gave a little half smile, "You deserve it," he whispered to himself, but it was audible through out the quiet room.

"Eli!" Clare gasped.

But it was too late. Fitz had run out of her house and down the street, not wanting to hear anymore.

**A/N: I hope I didn't make Eli **_**too**_** OOC…**


	6. Chapter 6

Did Eli not think that that thought hadn't occurred to him before? That he deserved it? After all the terrible things he had done, maybe he did.

But Fitz willed himself not to think about that as he flung open the front door of Owens's house and made his way down into the basement. Owen and Bianca were on the couch watching some crappy movie but Fitz passed them without a word, grabbed a beer out of the mini fridge and sat down between them. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol hadn't worked before, but it sure made him feel a hell of a lot better.

…

The next morning Fitz walked to school with Owen in silence. Owen had tried, and failed miserably, to start up a conversation. Fitz wouldn't have any of it. After all, he _was_ still nursing a very large hangover that wouldn't seem to go away even after taking some Asprin. That and he really was not in the mood to talk after what had happened over the past couple of days.

It was his first time back at Degrassi after the night in Vegas incident and he knew the day wasn't going to be pleasant. It sure didn't disappoint. Everywhere he went, people sent him pointed, hate-filled glares and the classes were boring as usual. But things sort of looked up at lunch.

"Whoa, man, check her out. To believe she might be coming here next term," Owen said, nudging Fitz.

He looked up to see that Owen was checking out a curvy girl with platinum blonde hair and from what it looked like, fake everything. He wouldn't have been surprised if he found out she was the poster child for plastic surgery.

"What about her?"

"She's smokin' _hot_." Owen said, staring at her again.

"She looks like a porn star." Bianca added, taking a bite of her salad.

"And you don't?" Owen scoffed.

"Your such as ass, Owen, god." Bianca said, leaving the table, but not before smacking him upside the head,

"I try!" he called after her, receiving the middle finger as she strolled out of the cafeteria.

Fitz scanned the crowded room, even though he knew he shouldn't, and his eyes landed on Clare.

Owen followed his gaze and frowned.

"Dude, no way."

"What?" Fitz asked, turning back to Owen.

"There is no way you are gonna crack Saint Clare." Owen laughed.

Fitz felt offended. Thoughts were just thoughts, nothing more. Sure he wouldn't mind hearing Clare scream his name, sure he wouldn't mind feeling her hot skin against his, but that didn't mean he was going to try to sleep with her. He knew Clare's values, ones that he respected, and had absolutely no intention of having sex with her.

"I'm not going to try and 'crack' her, moron."

"Then what-," Owen started but stopped when he saw Clare get up out of her seat and walk their way.

"Hi," she said quietly, giving Fitz a hard glance.

It was a glance that said '_I'm sorry'_.

It was a glance that said '_Come back'_

And it was a glance that said '_I want you'_.

Well maybe not the last one.

"Hey," he said, giving her a glance of his own.

It was a glance that said '_I forgive you_'.

It was a glance that said '_Maybe I will'_.

And it was a glance that said '_I want you'_.

As he watched her walk to the trash can, throw out her trash, and walk back to her table, Fitz couldn't help but smile.

"Knock it off, your scaring me." Owen said, referring to his goofy grin.

Fitz rolled his eyes and returned back to eating his burnt hamburger.

"Damnit, I forgot ketchup." Fitz exclaimed, getting ready to go get some.

"You like her." Owen stated suddenly.

"What?"

"You like-like Clare Edwards." Owen smirked.

"What are we, in kindergarten?"

"Nope, but you _so_ like her," he teased, poking Fitz in the side.

"Shut up, no I don't." he said, swatting Owens hand away. But even as Fitz said it, he wasn't sure if it was true.


	7. Chapter 7

"Liking someone and wanting to have sex with someone are two different things yet you claim you want neither?"

Bianca had sat Fitz down in Owens basement as she interrogated him about Clare. Owen sat, amused, watching as Bianca fired questions Fitz's way.

"I don't like Clare and I don't want to have sex with her."

"But you still want her?"

Fitz was silent, but Bianca took it as a yes. She definitely did not understand this boy's logic.

"So you want her, but—,"

"I don't want—,"

"Shut up _Mark_." She hissed and he flinched at the use of his given name. "I'm trying to figure you out here. So you don't want to have sex with her but you _want_ her...? Want her as in… just kissing? And that entire boyfriend/girlfriend label crap?"

He looked away, and Bianca again took this as a yes. And so did Owen.

"Aw come on dude! I can't believe you've gone soft on us!"

"I don't-,"

"Stop lying, it's tiring me out." Bianca sighed and plopped herself down on the couch next to Fitz.

Fitz looked at his hands, refusing to meet neither Bianca's nor Owens eyes. He hadn't known his friends could figure him out so fast. Did that mean everyone else could?

**A/N: just a short little chapter to clarify some things…**


	8. Chapter 8

Fitz took a deep breath as he slowly pushed his front door open and peered inside. There was no sign of his dad being there, so he continued to walk though the living room.

"Mum?" he whispered and peered into the kitchen.

Mrs. Fitzgerald's back was towards him and she leaned against the cabinets, crying softly.

"Mum!" he called running over to her and wrapping her in a hug. "What's wro-," he started, pulling away to get a better look at her. He gasped, taking in the large, splotchy bruise on the side of her face.

He backed away, trying to will himself not to be angry and do something stupid.

"You need to go," his mom whispered and he looked up at her.

"I can't leave you here." he said, taking her hand.

"You have to. Go. Be safe." She said, pushing him out the front door.

"But-," he protested, but stopped when he realized he was already out on the porch.

"Goodbye Mark," she said, kissing his forehead before shutting the door in his face.


	9. Chapter 9

As Clare opened the front door of the house, she gasped when she saw Fitz sitting on her couch with his head in his hands. At the sound of her arrival, he looked up.

"How did you-," Clare started.

"I came in though the window. You should really keep in locked," he said with a small smile.

"I went home today," he said as she sat down next to him. "I saw my mum."

"How was she?" Clare asked hopefully but frowned as he turned to look at her with a grim expression.

After a long silence Clare spoke up again, "I'm sorry about the other day. Eli was a jerk."

"It's not your fault." He said. "But why are you even dating him?" he blurted out, surprising both of them.

Clare stared at him in shock, not sure of what to say.

"I mean, you deserve so much better then him." Fitz said.

"Like whom?" she said softly.

"Better then anyone at our school, and probably others too."

Clare blushed and looked down, "Well the reasons I'm with Eli are because he cares about me," she said but felt nervous under Fitz's watchful gaze. "He gets me. He's always there for me. He's funny, in that sarcastic, cynical way of his. He's sweet. He's a gentleman. He's smart." Clare looked up and was shocked to see how deep Fitz's brown eyes were. "He's um…" she stuttered, losing her momentum. "He's…"

"Perfect?"

"He's not perfect…"

"You sure act like it."

"No I don't," she pouted and Fitz laughed.

"All I'm saying is you could do better," he said, hands up in defense.

"What about you? You could do better than Bianca, no offence to her."

"Who said I'm dating Bianca?" he laughed.

"I don't know, I just assumed…." She said. "Is there anyone you would _want_ to be dating?"

Fitz froze; he was certainly not expecting this question.

"Um, well, not exactly."

"No?"

"No."

"You sure?" she smiled. "You seem hesitant. Do you just not want to tell me?"

"I want to, but I can't."

"You can't?"

"Nope, I can't."

"Oh. Ok then. But if you ever want to tell me you can." Clare smiled.

Fitz was pretty sure he wouldn't be telling her. Not any time soon.


	10. Chapter 10

Clare sat at lunch, slowly eating her sandwich which had come from her brown paper bag. She was saving a table for her, Adam, and Eli, but they hadn't arrived yet. She looked up and saw Fitz standing in the middle of the cafeteria holding his red plastic try, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. From the looks of it, he was searching for Bianca and Owen, but they were nowhere to be found.

As he looked at each table, Clare caught his eye and waved him over. His eyebrow rose in disbelief but she waved him over again.

Slowly he made his way over and sat down, earning some confused glances.

"Why did you want me to sit with you?" Fitz asked, taking a sip from his milk carton.

"Because," Clare laughed. "You're my friend," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

…

"We should do something," Fitz said as he and Clare were walking back to her house after school.

"Like what?"

"I have an idea, but we would need a car to get there…Can we borrow your mom's?"

Clare gulped. She had never taken something from her parents without asking.

"Sure," she found herself saying.

When she reached her front door, she pushed it open slowly and glanced around. Her mother was upstairs getting ready for her the date that she had told Clare about that morning. She had met a man online and agreed to meet him tonight.

Clare glanced back at the front door towards Fitz, who gave her an encouraging smile. More confident, Clare straightened up, quickly slipped her mother's car keys out of her purse and ran out the door.

"Nice job," he said as she placed the keys in his hand. They started the car, praying Mrs. Edwards wouldn't hear or would be to busy to notice, and headed down the street.

"Where are we going?' Clare asked Fitz happily.

"It's a secret so close your eyes," he smirked. She frowned and shut her eyes, but excitement coursed though Clare as the car drove on and on.

After what seemed like forever, the car stopped.

"You can open your eyes now," Fitz said and she did.

In front of the parked car was a large concrete building with a sign that read, _Jack's Rock Climbing Gym._

"Rock climbing?" Clare exclaimed loudly.

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it! It's _fun_, I swear. And I figured we could use some fun."

"I guess your right," she sighed and followed him into the building.

Clare looked at some posters of people scaling mountains as Fitz went up to the desk to pay.

He came over to her shortly after, exclaiming, "Let's go get our harnesses." Clare followed him into the climbing room. It was very large with climbing walls covering about every square foot. There were racks of complicated harnesses and Fitz went over and strapped one on in merely minutes.

"I don't know how to put one on…" Clare admitted sheepishly.

"No problem," he said, holding one out. "Step into the leg loops, yeah right there, now here, let me close it for you so you don't fall out," he joked and Clare blushed, noticing how close he was to her.

"Now come on, lets go to that wall," he said pointing with one hand, and taking hers with his other. Clare smiled. This Fitz reminded her of a little kid in Disney World.

"Hey Mark," the instructor said, glancing at Fitz out of the corner of his eye as he belayed a girl climbing up the wall.

"Hey Henry," Fitz said, and then he turned to Clare, "I used to come here a lot when I was younger so I know most of the staff."

"That's great," she smiled. It felt nice to know about one if Fitz's hobbies and that he would be willing to show her.

"This is my friend Clare," he said to Henry. "She's never climbed before."

"That's not a problem," he said as he lowered the girl to the ground since she had reached the top. Once on the ground, the girl untied the rope from her harness and scurried off to a different wall. "I would be happy to show her the ropes." He said. "Get it, _ropes_. Ha!" Henry laughed.

"How you tie in is like this," he grabbed the rope that he wasn't attached to. "Hold it at arms length, and twist it like this…" Clare watched fascinated. "See how it looks like an 'eight'? Well stick the end of the rope though this loop here," he said, pointing to a loop on his own harness. "Then retrace the 'eight' with the end piece of the rope you just put though the loop. After you tie that, you tie the backup knot."

Clare looked up him, "Um…I didn't catch half of that…"

"Oh, okay." Henry laughed. "Want me to just do it?"

Clare nodded and watched as he tied her in.

Next to her, Clare saw Fitz tie in with another instructor and by the time he had climbed all the way to the top and had gotten lowered to the ground, she hadn't even moved a step.

"Wow," she said. "That took you, what, 30 seconds?"

"29," he smirked and she playfully hit his arm.

"Your turn," Fitz said motioning to the wall. Clare took a deep breath, placed her hands on the rough, hard, plastic rocks, and pulled herself up. She looked down. She was barley a foot off the ground yet she still felt nervous. Slowly she climbed higher and higher, willing herself not to look down. But once halfway up, she did, and instantly regretted it.

"Oh goodness," she said, feeling dizzy and nauseous at the height.

"Don't worry, I've got you," Henry called trying to make her feel better. It didn't work.

"You can do it! Try grabbing the red one by your left hand." Fitz said.

Clare looked up at the red rock, and stretched, stretched, stretched. Her finger merely touched the edge when she slipped, a loud shriek exploding from her lungs as she expected to splat to the ground and be dead in an instant. Fortunatly Henry was doing his job well, so Clare sat floating in midair, being held only by the rope.

Henry slowly lowered her to the ground and Fitz wrapped her in a hug, "You did great!" he exclaimed.

"I am never doing that again, _ever_!" Clare said.

"Next time, you'll change your mind," Fitz said as the two exited the building and got in the car.

"Next time?" Clare squeaked. "No way is that ever happening."

"So none of it was fun?"

"I didn't say that…"

"So you had fun?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah, I guess I did."

Fitz stared into her deep, almost-endless blue eyes and he felt like his stomach was twisting in knots as he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against hers for a few seconds.

Clare twisted her head away, looking down. "I can't," she said quietly.

"Oh…"

"I'm sorry."

They drove back to Clare's in silence, they walked into the house in silence, they parted at the top of the stairs in silence, and only when Clare got in her room and collapsed onto her bed did she scream into her pillow in frustration.


	11. Chapter 11

A few days later, Fitz approached his house yet again. Instead of going in his house, he peered though the window. His dad was sitting cross legged on the couch reading the newspaper. Fitz glared. How could he just be sitting there? How could he not feel guilty about what he had done, and is still doing?

Normally, Fitz would have probably charged into the house and thrown a few punches, just to get revenge, but today he vowed never to do that again. Anger made people do stupid things. So instead, he took out his cell phone and dialed.

"Hello, 911, how may I help you?"

"Hi, yes. I would like to report a case of domestic abuse…"

…

Clare snuggled with Eli on his couch as they watched the movie they had picked out for 'date night'. Well, it was more like Eli was snuggling with her as she watched the movie.

"Clare…," he whispered as he placed small kisses on her neck, slowly moving towards her lips.

"Hmm?" she asked oblivious.

Eli sighed loudly, pulling away from her, "Clare, what's going on in that head of yours. You're acting really distant."

"I was just thinking."

"About?"

"I think we should take a break," she said suddenly, shocking Eli.

"You want to break up?"

"_No_, I said 'take a break'. Those are two different things."

"One usually leads to the other. What brought this on anyway?"

"Nothing," Clare blushed, the image of Fitz kissing her flashed thought her mind. But that wasn't why she wanted a break. Honestly, it wasn't...

"So we are on a break…?" Eli repeated, hoping this was just a joke.

It wasn't.

"Yeah," she said standing up and heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"We not officially together anymore, so I'm leaving. Goodbye Eli." She said and as she shut the door behind her and stepped onto his front stoop, it felt like a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders.


	12. Chapter 12

Clare sat at lunch with Alli and Fiona. When Clare asked Fiona why she was sitting with her instead of Adam, she simply shrugged and said, "The Girl Code."

"I can't believe you and Eli broke up," Alli said, shaking her head.

"We didn't _break up_. We are on a break."

"Either way you aren't together." Alli scoffed. "Are you sad about it?"

"Not really. It was for the best. I feel…free. It's weird to explain. Am I making any sense?"

"Of course you are," Fiona said.

"Anyway, the other day, I went _rock climbing!_ It was actually kind of fun."

"Clare Edwards? Rock climbing? It sounds too good to be true! Who convinced you to go, considering _I_ couldn't" Alli asked.

"Fitz."

Alli's mouth fell open and Fiona nearly choked on her Panini, "_What_!" they screeched in unison.

"He not as bad as you guys think!" Clare defended. "He's actually really sweet and nice."

"_Really_…" Fiona said, suspicious.

"Yes _really_," Clare rolled her eyes. She glanced across the cafeteria and when she saw Fitz, she wished she hadn't. He was sitting with Bianca and Owen, glumly picking at his mash potatoes. Bianca and Owen were trying to cheer him up but it clearly wasn't working.

"Oh gosh," Clare muttered, putting her head in her hands.

"What?" Fiona asked and she glanced behind her shoulder to look at Fitz.

"He's sad….because of me."

"What did you do?" Alli asked.

"He kissed me, but I rejected him."

"Wait, he _kissed_ you!" Fiona nearly yelled.

"Ohmigawd, is _that_ why you broke up with Eli?" Alli asked.

"No!" Clare said. They looked at her unbelievingly and she blushed. "Maybe…" She admitted.

…

Bianca was walking down the hallway and was about to turn the corner but stopped short when she heard the end of a conversation. She turned around and saw Alli and Fiona talking at their lockers.

"I can't believe Clare and Eli broke up." Alli said sadly.

"I know, it kind of makes me scared that Adam and I will end up like that considering they seemed perfect for each other," said Fiona as she looked in her locker's mini mirror as she applied another coat of lip gloss.

Bianca's eyebrows rose and she walked over to the girls, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you just say Eli and Clare broke up?"

"Yeah," Alli scoffed. "So what if they did?"

"Why did they break up?" asked Bianca, ignoring Alli.

Alli glared at Bianca and Fiona stepped between the two, "Because Fitz kissed Clare," Fiona whispered.

Bianca's eyes went wide in shock, but she shook it off. "'Kay, thanks, bye." She said, spun around, and ran back down the hall as fast as her heels would let her.

"Owen!" she screeched once she saw him, nearly tackling him to the ground. She grabbed the collar of his shirt with both hand and started shaking him. "Eli and Clare broke up!" she shouted in his face.

Adam Torres, whom was at his locker a few feet away, looked over curiously (and suspiciously) at the mention of his friends and especially their very recent break up.

"Bee, let go," Owen grunted and she released him. "They broke up? Why?"

"Because Fitz kissed Clare," Bianca said.

"What?" Owen asked, and as Bianca continued filling him in with as much a she knew (which wasn't much), Adam had snuck off down the hallway in search of Eli.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: sorry I haven't updated in a bit. I've been **_**so**_** busy, which makes me tired, which makes my brain work slowly, which makes my writing crappy. And no one likes when my writing is crappy, right? So I took the time to write (and **_**think**_**) of this chapter…I actually started over a couple times. Anyway, hope you like it, this is the last chapter.**

Fitz sat in detention absentmindedly doodling on his desk. The black ink flowed smoothly as it created swirls and harsh lines. He couldn't help it as a small smile formed on his lips. Bianca and Owen had told him Eli and Clare had broken up, and Clare had been the one to dump him. When Fitz had asked for details, Bianca refused to say anymore. Either way it meant there was a chance—however tiny it may be— that he could be with Clare.

"Detention's over," Ms. O. said dully, glancing up from her magazine.

Fitz grabbed his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and walked out of the classroom. He hadn't even known what he had been in detention for; he had just accepted the pink slip with a grimace. He had long ago stopped caring what he got in trouble for and now it was more of a habit than anything.

Fitz turned a corner and all of a sudden he felt an enormous weight slam into him, almost as if he had been hit by a train. It sent him crashing into the lockers, his backpack skidding across the hallway.

"What the hell?" he said, and Eli's angry face glared back at him.

"Shut up." He hissed. "You _asshole_, how dare you kiss Clare! She's _my _girlfriend!"

"_Ex_-girlfriend," Fitz said, earning a punch to the face.

He stumbled back a bit, but after regaining his balance, he stood up straight and gave Eli a hard shove, "Back off. I don't want to fight you."

"Too bad," Eli yelled, lunging forward. Fitz easily sidestepped him and smashed his fist into Eli's jaw, which sent him sprawling across the checkered, tile floor.

Standing up, eyes filled with hate, Eli ran his arm across his mouth, wiping the blood off his lip. Fitz clenched his fists, _why couldn't this freak leave him alone_? He grabbed Eli by his shirt and slammed him into the lockers face first.

Fitz leaned in close to Eli's ear and whispered dangerously, his voice low, "If you ever _think_ about messing with me again I'm going to screw up _so_ bad you—,"

"Mark Fitzgerald!"

Fitz stepped away from Eli as fast as if he had been burned at the sound of Ms. O's voice.

"Principals office, now!" she said, pointing down the hallway. Eli smirked as Fitz scowled and trudged toward the office.

…

"Are you okay?" Clare asked. Her delicate finger brushed over Fitz's slightly swollen cheek.  
"Fine," he muttered, ducking his head away.  
"I can't believe you got in a fight." Fitz had told her about what happened since he didn't have the will to lie to her, plus she would've found out eventually. But the only part he let out was that he had fought Eli.  
"It's no big deal."  
"Yes, it is. You could've been sent to back to Juvie if the situation was serious enough!"  
"But it wasn't. I only got a couple weeks of detention, nothing new."  
"Still…"she said. Fitz sighed and leaned against a wall in Clare's living room.  
"My mom said I could come back home today," Fitz said, his bag was packed with the clothes Clare had given him and it was lying by his feet.  
"That's great." Clare said, but there was a hint of sadness in her tone.  
"Don't worry, I'll still be around," he teased.  
She smiled weakly. They glanced into each other's eyes for a moment, but Clare looked away.  
"I kind of felt it coming with Eli." she said suddenly. "For a while I've been feeling…I don't know, not really as happy with him. But I'm not sure why. Nothing changed. He loved me a lot, and I knew that, but I think I was starting to fall out of love. I just got that feeling. When I saw you…"  
Fitz waited patiently, his heart thumping loudly. Clare blushed. "I felt different. I could really be myself around you, not that I couldn't be myself around Eli, but with you it felt more _real_. Like at rock climbing," she laughed. Fitz smiled.  
"I think…I think I might like you," she whispered softly. She finally looked into his eyes, and the world seemed to stop, and it was just the two of them, time slipping away quickly as their eyes bored into each other.

Slowly, Clare leaned towards him and her lips brushed against his gently. Fitz kissed her back, softly, but then more urgently. He put his hands in her hair and she wrapped her arms around him.

After a while, he pulled away.

"I should go…" Fitz said and headed to the front door.

"Okay," she sighed as his hand reached for the knob. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Um…does this mean we're dating?" Clare wondered.

He smiled, "Only if you want to be."

"We could always give it a try I guess."

"I might have to take you up on that offer." He said as he stepped out the door.

**A/N: THE END!**


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